More...

More Car Wash...

Car Wash!!

Grandpa decided to wash Grandma's Van about 2 weeks ago. He had 2 little volunteers to help him. They were so cute! They really got into the work and were so excited to be helping with a "grown up" job. Jayden had been Grandpa's Little Helper all day that day, and he even earned some money for the work he did! Grandpa told him he would get a dime for every weed he pulled up by the root. He made $.70. They worked in the garden and flower beds, washed cars, built towers in the dirt, and a few other things around the house. Karah had a blast washing the cars. And that child is thorough! We have some little scratches on our bumper and she scrubbed and scrubbed and got frustrated that they weren't washing off! I love these kids and their love for helping.

Tempting to leave them there....

This was one of those days that I was afraid I was going to go bald from pulling my hair out. The kids were at each other's throats, and anything I said went unheard. Running, screaming, hitting, biting, crying...I'd about had it when I heard Jayden giggling and Karah screaming. I walked in to see that she had climbed into the bird cage (that we had out to put on Craigslist) and Jay had closed her in. I couldn't help it. I laughed. It looked so darn funny to me, especially since my kids were acting like little animals at the time. I snapped a few pictures and then let her out. About 10 minutes later, I heard giggles coming from both of them, along with "Mommy! Come look!" So I did, and both of them were in there. I took more pictures and was tempted to leave them in there while I cleaned up their mess of a toy room. I got them out and made them clean it instead. Things were much better after that...probably because I warned them they'd get stuck back in the cage for an undetermined amount of time if they didn't listen...

Fall Fun

Ok, here we go. This was actually a few weeks ago. We went down to see Megan dance. The kids had an absolute blast. They had candy (yay), games, rides, music, food, and booths. One booth for a day care was doing free face painting and hair coloring. Jayden chose black scary spiders and blue hair, and Karah chose red flowers with pink hair. Megan wasn't sure if she wanted to get hers done, but after a while she warmed up to the idea and got purple or pink butterflies, I think, and pink hair, too. She also wanted make-up, so the lady drew beautiful Mimi eyeshadow and eyelashes. Karah thought it was absolutely gorgeous and wanted pretty eyes, too. Word of advice: don't spray your kid's head pink. The blue came out with one wash. There is STILL a hint of hot pink on Karah's head...

We're Still Here...

Ok, ok, I know I haven't blogged in months. We're okay. A lot has happened to us. We've moved across the country and Dan has gone back to school to complete the prerequisites for Pharmacy school. Although he already has his degree in Art, we felt that with the economy being the way it is (aka-artists being laid off right and left...marketing always gets cut first) that we needed to rethink his career path. He'd already had most of the prerequisites done, so hopefully he'll be in school to become a pharmacist next fall.

So, that was the last few months in a nutshell. Now for a hilarious story about Jayden. Yesterday afternoon we got a call from Megan if Jayden could come spend the night "Saturday Night". I asked him if he wanted to, and the answer was a very enthusiastic "YES YES YES!!!" He and I had a very important talk about how spending the night was a very "grown up" thing to do, and that he and Megan were big kids and needed to behave as such. I told him that he needed to listen to Mommy or he wouldn't get to go. He was practically perfect for the next 24 hours. Well, being so good was getting hard as the minutes ticked away waiting for Megan to pick him up. They weren't coming until 4:30 pm, and at around 3 he was just dying of anticipation, and starting to take it out on Karah by taunting her that she didn't get to go. So, I decided to include him in the packing process. He didn't want me to have anything to do with it, so I took Karah downstairs while he sorted through his things. I did have to convince him that he didn't need 10 pairs of underwear for one night, and that some pajamas and clothes would be a good idea, but other than that, I stayed out of it. This is what his backpack held: toothbrush, 2 pairs of underwear (huge accomplishment talking him down to 2, trust me), jeans, two shirts, 3 Agatha Christie novels (because he and Megan were now "grown ups"), 3 VHS movies (I only caught the name of one...Spartacus...), and a wall hanging of a cross-stitched CTR shield "Because I like it, and I'm sure Megan will like it, too...". He wore his backpack for about 1/2 an hour waiting for Megan to show up, and then the entire time Aunt Erica, Uncle Jeremy, Mommy, and Daddy visited. He could not wait to get going on his "grown up" adventure and share his treasures with Megan. That little boy cracks me up!!

Karah was having a little bit of difficulty watching Jayden being so excited, so she and Daddy are on a little date to the store right now. She dressed herself. She has on a backwards purple pajama shirt that says "Daddy's Little Angel", overalls, and her pink princess glitter shoes. I tried to fix the shirt, but she threw a royal fit. "I CAN DRESS MYSELF!!!!" *Sigh* The only time she asked me for help was to do her hair in "Twos" (pigtails).

My children crack me up. I loved how Jayden was so thoughtful of the things he picked out for his sleepover with his cousin, and I love how Karah tries to figure things out on her own and only asks for help when she absolutely needs it!

The Fly Hunter

Jayden cracks me up. Two summers ago, when we first moved into our house, Granna bought Jayden his very own flyswatter because he was terrified of flies. It became his "security blanket" that summer. Well, we lost it somewhere, sometime, since then. I'd totally forgotten we'd even had it. We didn't have any real fly problems since then, either. Well, this afternoon when the kids came back home from Grandma Richardson's house, there was a fly in the house. All of a sudden, I see Jayden flying up the stairs with the flyswatter above his head like a soldier charging into battle. That little boy gave me an hour of free entertainment as he stalked and "hunted" the fly. He'd charge it from across the room with a battle cry, he'd hide upstairs and then tip-toe through the rooms stalking it, and he'd jump and twirl around while he tried to swat it out of the air. Every so often he'd ask me to go "Get that fly, 'cuz I can't!". I'd just tell him to keep on trying and that he would eventually get it. I was just having too much fun watching him! Oh, he took it so seriously! We even called Grandma Kathi a few times to keep her updated on Jay's fly hunting progress. When I'd ask him what he was trying to do, he'd reply: "I'm gonna SMACK dat fly DOWN!!" He'd crouch, crawl, jump, climb, and just do anything he could think of to get that blasted fly! And he DID! He finally got it, BY HIMSELF! The fly had landed on the windowsill behind the couch. (And Jayden reinacted this, too, by the way...I'm going to see if I can borrow Kristi's video camera tonight and see if he'll do it again...) Jayden brought the flyswatter up like a spear and jabbed it. He was so tickled and excited that he'd actually gotten the fly. We called Grandma Kathi and he told her (and showed her) exactly how he'd done it.
Since then he's been patrolling the house with his flyswatter, ready to pounce at the next fly. He's even pretended to chase a few and asked me if I knew where any "real flies" he could SWAT DOWN were.

Imelda Marcos in Training...

Holy Cow. Mom and I just took Karah shoe shopping, and MAN, that girl loves shoes!! We turned down the shoe isle at Target and her eyes just lit up and she gave a delighted gasp. And that was when she was still in the basket! I can't even describe her euphoria when we let her out to look at and TRY ON the shoes! She is definitely Megan's relative, because she made a beeline for the infamous "hideous purple shoes" and kept going back to them. Anytime we'd give her a new shoe to try on, she'd squeal and run to us. Sometimes that was the only way to get her to stop modeling the shoes for the other shoppers. Mom and I were constantly giggling at this little girl's shoe fettish. She had so much energy, and it was nice that Jayden and Daddy were having their own adventure elsewhere in the store. We were looking at shoes for 45 minutes, and finally Mom and I had to call it a night. That child was still going strong, looking for any and every shoe she didn't get to try yet. We had to stick her in the basket, buckle her in, and then put a new pair of shoes on her feet to get her to think about calming down. In the end, Karah chose her own new tennis shoes. They have Cinderella, Belle, and Sleeping Beauty on them. (Anyone surprised?) It was a tough decision for her, though...there was a pair of pink shimmery-type shoes that she ran around in for a while and seemed to like a lot. The final choice was between those two, and the Princesses won out. I just hope we got them big enough to last a while so Mom and I have time to recouperate!!

Jayden's Girlfriend

Over the last few years that I've lived in Utah, I haven't really gone out of my way to make friends, so I wasn't really liking it here. I decided that I would take the matter to Heavenly Father to help me find a good friend that could totally relate to me, and who also had kids that my kids would get along with. (Let's face it...the kids get to pick our friends now) I also was looking for someone who we could hang out with as a family or couple. (Meaning the husband would get along with Dan, also) We have gained many friends now that we've been a bit more social, but we still hadn't found the "magical everyone loves everyone" family. I'll admit that our expectations are pretty high. We needed kids that wouldn't fight, someone who could talk "nerd" with Dan, and someone to understand my "unique" personality and embrace it. One day, I don't remember how far back, I was on Dan's Facebook and his friend, Debbie, from his pre-ME days started chatting. We became fast internet friends and would giggle and chat through Facebook. We added each other to our friend's lists, and continued to enjoy our conversations. On her page, it said she lived in PA, but she'd just forgotten to change it when they moved (3 years ago.) . We discovered that Dan and I live just down the street from her parents, and that she lives about 1/2 hour away from us! We started planning right away to get the kids together for a play date. Her daughter, Ava, is 2 and Simon is 2 months old. We decided to do an Easter Egg Hunt with the kids the day before Easter to kind of prepare the girls for Sunday. It was a BLAST! The kids did not fight ONE SINGLE TIME! Jayden and Ava were both so sweet with one another and they included Karah in everything they did. We were there from noon until 5:30 pm!! We were having so much fun that we decided that Debbie, Chris, Ava, and Simon would come down to our house and eat dinner with us so Dan could meet our friends. Lo and behold, the men were able to have a wonderful "nerd" conversation, the kids continued to get along fight free, and the mommies were having a wonderful time not having to worry about the kids and just giggling at how this was the first time we'd actually met in person!

Ok, now that I have the background out of the way, Jayden has decided that Ava is his "girlfriend". These two are so sweet with one another! He just adores her! After Ava went home, that is all I heard about for the rest of the week. I called Deb and relayed a conversation Jay and I had about Ava:

Jay: "I want Ava."
Me: "Do you miss your friend, Ava?"
Jay: "Not my friend, Mom...my GIRLFRIEND!"

Debbie started laughing and relayed a story about how Ava lectured a little boy that came over that only she and "Her Jayden" could play with a certain toy! We went back up this last weekend for Simon's baby blessing, and the two were so excited to be able to see one another. Deb and I cracked up, because their outfits matched! They were just so cute, and we did a "photo shoot" with the two of them. Debbie took the pictures (I'd left my hardly working camera at home), and they are posted on Facebook. I don't know how to do the links, but I was tagged in the pictures and a completely adorable video.

Fun Game From Krissa's Blog

This is a game I found when I was blog surfing. Rules: Anything you have done has to be in colored, bold, and/or underlined. How much have you done? It only takes about 5 minutes…Just do it..it's fun!
The things I've done are bold.

1. Started your own blog (duh)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (Just not the "cool" kind)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland!
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a Praying Mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched an amazing lightning storm (put "terrifying" where "amazing" is...)
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (I used to sculpt, but never took art classes)
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning...
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (been to it, can't walk to top anymore!)
18. Grown your own vegetables (In the process!!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked (It was someone I knew, Mom!!)
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Ran a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (well....PROBABLY...I've traveled so much and my ancestors are from everywhere, so...)
35. Seen an Amish community !
36. Taught yourself a new language (does making up your own count?)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business (I was 13 and it flopped)
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood! (I lied about my weight...turns out they do that for a reason...)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (Well...to ME it was "speeding" but I think Joe Mejia will just laugh at this statement...)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (Ok, so it isn't up for sale or anything, but it was a class project and with Daddy's help it looked PRETTY DARN GOOD!!)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Jessica Simpson and Nick "Whats-his-Face" when they were still married. I also met "Claire Huckstable's" real-life sister who dances professionally on Broadway.)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit (Kinda)
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Visited Italy


I may have miscounted, but I think I've done 60. Thank you Granna and Grandpa for the many travels you took us on!!

Almost Famous

Okay, I haven't written anything about this because I was trying not to get my hopes up. A friend of mine has his own radio show, and for those of you who know me, I have always dreamed of becoming a "cartoon character" or work in commercials as far as voices go. I asked Chad how he got into radio, and if it was anything like trying to get into commercials and such. He went above and beyond ANYTHING I ever imagined and encouraged me to send him some examples. He liked what he heard and sent me some scripts for his podcasts so he could get a feel for my voice and also give me practice reading scripts. I have been so insecure in this whole thing and I've recorded myself about a million times and just felt retarded. I can't tell you how much I've struggled with even getting up enough nerve to sit down and put the headset on! I'm not a big risk-taker. I have my comfort zone, and even though I've always wanted to do something with my voice, actually recording myself and sending it to someone was FAR outside it. I know Heavenly Father lent me the strength to even try this. So, with that said, I'd like to invite everyone to go to www.chadhasty.com, click on podcasts, and listen to his shows. The ones dated today you'll hear my voice introducing the show. I, personally, love the show, and it is fun hearing someone that I was close to in high school on the radio. It is talk radio, but not the boring kind. It is actually entertaining, and Dan and I now set aside 4-6 pm on Saturdays (5-7 pm for people in Central Time) so we can hear his show live (kfyo.com streams it for us). Sorry, Chad, still not getting up willingly to listen to your morning show, even though it is great!! ;) (6-9 am Central on 790 KFYO) Also, Chad, I'd like to publicly thank you for all you've done and for the countless support you've given me. I know I just have one blip so far, and honestly, if that's all I ever get, you've still made one of my dreams come true. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Like I said, I never imagined you'd go so such greath lengths for someone you haven't seen in years. You're an awesome guy!! I'd also like to thank Dan for his love, support, and encouragement. He has helped me gain courage, he's taken the kids, he's given me ideas, and he's believed in me. So, with that, I hope y'all enjoy my 10 seconds of fame as much as I did!! So, go to www.chadhasty.com, click on podcasts, and the ones dated today are introduced by me. Feel free to listen to the rest of his shows, too! They are all very entertaining!

I love Stumble...

I was bored today and started "Stumbling". I found this website and thought it was interesting. It has a lot of great ideas and awesome recipes! I thought I'd share it! I don't know how to do all of the fancy "here" links or anything like that, so, sorry about that. I hope y'all enjoy this as much as I did!


http://makeitfromscratch.blogspot.com/

Jayden and Karah-isms

These little nuts are EAVESDROPPERS! I was driving in the van earlier this week, talking with Dan on the phone. I asked him where he was on his way home, and he said "Airport", meaning "Airport Road". Since I was driving, I had the phone on speaker phone. Jay got so excited and screamed, "Daddy's got GRANDMA!!! YAY!!!" He thought Daddy was at THE airport, picking up Grandma to come see him! We told him that, yes, Grandma is coming, but we won't see her until Sunday...

Karah LOVES saying "Double-G" as long as Double-G is not present to hear it. She FINALLY whispered it yesterday right after lunch for him.

Karah also says "Cinderella", now. I nearly did a back-flip when I first heard that one...

"Belle" is another word that was added to her vocabulary today when we were looking at a picture of 3 different Disney Princesses.

Jayden is so proud of the fact that he is a "big kid". He reminds Karah every day that he is "bigger" than her, and that makes him "the boss". She doesn't like that. Jay doesn't like it when I remind him that he isn't "the boss", either...

We went to the Aquarium with Granna and Double-G (and I forgot my camera, "doh!") . The kids had a BLAST, but got scared at the "Monster" tank. It is this HUGE lobster, and I'm not kidding, it is about the size of Karah! The pinchers were about as big as her head, at LEAST! Usually when we go to the Aquarium, the thing is dead still and the kids don't really care to look at it. This time, though, it was going nuts inside the tank. It was trying to crawl up the glass, and everything. I thought it was kinda freaky looking, myself, but I'm a lot bigger than it. I can understand why the kids would be frightened...

Sorry...

I know I've kind of been slacking with the posts and pics lately, and I want to apologize. The kids were both sick and we've been doing a whole lot of nothing this week. The kids are finally better, but Dan and I both have it, now. Dan has been so wonderful despite the fact that I know he feels like crap. He urges me to rest and take naps while he watches the kids because he knows that I'd been getting up with the kids at night and haven't really taken time this week to look after myself. He gave me a huge nap yesterday from 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM, and that was when I woke up on my own! He would have let me sleep longer! Today he let me sleep in until 1:30 pm, and again, that was because I woke up on my own at that time. He would have let me sleep longer if I'd wanted to. How awesome is it that he is so thoughtful and wonderful to care so much about me? I've tried to give him naps here and there and do the same for him, but he is more concerned about me getting better fast than he is for himself. He is so awesome, and I love him to death!

Precious...

No pics of this, but I had to blog these things... The night before last (I believe...it has been a blur with the illness in the house) we realized we were out of Children's Tylenol. Not good when you have 2 sick children...so, Dan told Jay he was going to the store to get medicine, and Jay had specific orders for him: "I want da PURPLE little medicines, not da pink. No pink, okay, Daddy? Not da juice ones (liquid). Da LITTLE PURPLE ONES! (Meltaways)." Well, Dan called me from the store, kind of frantic. They didn't have purple ANYTHING. Not one brand had grape flavored children's pain reliever! So, he bought what they had. Jayden freaked out. "I said PURPLE! Dis is PINK!" and proceeded to explain to Dan the differences between the two through sobs. Dan felt so bad, but there was nothing he could do about it, really. He snuggled Jay to sleep to try and make up for it, but the little guy has the memory of an elephant, or something. All I've heard since then when I get the pain reliever out is: "Daddy got the WRONG one!"

Jay woke up again last night and came into our bedroom just miserable. He was coughing, wheezing, crying from a tummy ache, and feverish. He climbed up into Dan's lap and said, "Daddy, I want a blessing." Dan and I just looked at each other, amazed that he A. remembered what a blessing was, and B. understood that it could make him feel better! I have never seen him so still or reverent during any other prayer in his life. After it was done, he gave each of us a hug and went back to sleep in our bed. How awesome is that? I can't really describe how that made me feel to see my little boy be so filled with faith at such a young age. I am so blessed to have such great men in my life such as my husband and son, and I am so blessed that my husband is such a great example to my son.

Icky Sickies

Sunday night, I was beat. The kids were cranky, I was tired as all get out, and Dan and I decided the kids were going to bed early. 7:00 pm early. At 6:45, we had prayer and scriptures, then went down to read stories. Neither kid wanted stories, amazingly, they just wanted to be held and snuggled. They were asleep in RECORD time, BEFORE 7:00!! (Neither kid had a nap). I went upstairs and flopped myself on the couch because Dan wanted me to proof read some things. I lasted about 20 minutes before I, too, was dreaming. Apparently, Dan carried me downstairs because at midnight we woke up (downstairs) to choking/screaming sounds coming from the kids' room. Jay was heaving. He didn't throw up, but it was because he was fighting it so hard, he was shaking. I ran him into the bathroom where he still fought the urges to throw up, but still had the heaves and gagging going on. Dan gave him a blessing, and he calmed down enough to tell me his tummy hurt. Then he let out a HUGE toot. He still complained of a tummy ache and didn't want to go back to bed, so we went upstairs to snuggle on the couch and talk. We talked for a while, then he wanted to watch Tom and Jerry for a while. I figured he'd fall asleep during it, but no...we were up until 6. (which was when Karah got up for the day...) Dan took Karah and let Jay and I sleep. Jay woke up before I did and woke me up, but he still had a tummy ache. Both kids are sick with fevers, coughs, and congestion, but Jay's is different than Karah's. His cough is like a bark, and his tummy hurts to the point that he will only drink water or diluted juice. Karah eats what he doesn't... The poor little guy is so sick to the point that he came into the livingroom after lunch, curled up on the floor, and passed out. I hope whatever he has goes away soon...

Little Miss Idependent....

We left the tortilla soup out on the table to munch on throughout the day. I guess she got hungry, too...

Jay's Party!

Jayden had a wonderful birthday week! He got phone calls from both

Grandmas, Aunt Kelsi, Uncle Andrew, Daddy, Grandpa Rick, and even

Cousin Megan on Thursday, he got a special breakfast of chocolate chip

pancakes, and Daddy brought home a pizza for dinner! We decided that

since his birthday was during the week, we'd have his party on Saturday.

We had a great time! I did plan for too much cake, though. We only ate

the pirate hat one. We still have a whole huge cake to eat...He got an

Aquadoodle mat, Play Doh, a Tom and Jerry DVD from the Richardsons,

a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ABC-123 game from Rylee and Nolan, a

basketball (and the cakes) from Mommy and Daddy, and a learning

laptop from Grandma Kathi and Grandpa Rick. It is the same laptop

that Jay and Rylee constantly fight over when we go to her house, so him

getting his own is great! Thank you, everyone, for your efforts in

making this little boy's birthday special!!

I Am My Mother's Daugher...

My mom is always throwing herself into big projects. Nothing can be simple. If she is asked to make a poster for a wrestling event, she ends up making at least 30 (one for each wrestler, regardless of whether or not they are going to wrestle that night), she makes dinner for the coaches and refs, she makes a mascot costume for a small child fan, and everything is done by hand. If someone asks her to bring a side dish to a pot luck dinner, she brings at least 6 different kinds just in case someone else forgot to bring something. She spends 60 hours a week on a hand out for her 18 month-3 year old class at church. (She's made cardboard ox-carts, bonnets, chaps, and vests just for a pioneer lesson, she's hand made flannel boars and magnet boards, she draws the characters, makes copies, colors them, cuts them out, laminates them, and then cuts them out again...) She is constantly making everything special by her love and effort put into things, and she never complains. That part I didn't inherit...I inherited the "throwing myself into seemingly impossible projects" part, but I lack her grace, patience, and talent in so many ways. This latest project I undertook was Jayden's birthday cake, AKA: The Birthday Cake from Heck. We decided that since we just had Christmas we'd try and make things special in other ways than just presents. We got him a basketball to go with his basket ball hoop, but I decided that since we were being frugal with the birthday presents, I would make up for it by making him the most ridiculously awesome (to him) birthday cake. We sat down with the Family Fun website and went through about 50 different cakes when he decided on one shaped like a pirate hat (standing up). I've done "specialty cakes" before, and this one looked fairly simple. I decided that instead of using a boxed cake, I would really go all out and bake it from scratch! And I would double the recipe because Dan's family was coming over along with Aunt Krissa and Rylee, and I wanted to make sure I had enough for everyone. I also decided that I would make everyone tortilla soup for lunch using dry beans instead of cans. "Piece of cake..." I thought. So, I set out making the cakes at 10:00 last night. I was going to make the pirate hat cake along with a big rectangular cake and decorate it like the ocean and stick some of Jay's pirate toys on top. I followed the directions exactly, but when the timer went off and I went to pull the cakes out, I screamed. The rectangle cake was OVERFLOWING all over my oven! The two circular cakes that made up the pirate hat looked done, but when I pulled them out to check them, they caved in! I will admit that I lost control and may have used some inappropriate language, but here was 10 1/2 cups of flour, 16 egg whites, 5 cups of sugar, and so on, appearing to be completely ruined. It was now 11:00 at night, I was exhausted from my day, and I burst into tears. All I'd wanted to do was bake a freaking cake and make it special for Jay (he'd been talking about his pirate hat cake all day) and I was a failure. I banished myself from the kitchen, cursing at myself, and locked myself in the office. My sweet husband held me while I cried and then went to the kitchen to see if he could salvage any of it. I called my Daddy and vented and cried to him a little, then tried to get my thoughts off of the darn cake by playing a little Halo. I don't know what miracle Dan performed, but he came upstairs about 45 minutes later and informed me that the cakes were done and looked good. Somehow, and I truly take no credit for this, but give it to a loving Heavenly Father and a dear husband of mine, the cakes ended up being perfect for what I needed. Everything went smooth this morning when I decorated the cakes and there is no evidence of my emotional breakdown last night...

Jayden's Birthday Thought...

This morning Jay came in and woke us up like every morning, but today was his birthday! We wished him a Happy Birthday instead of telling him to go back to bed and made a comment about how he was now 3 and growing so big! This was his reply:

"No, I smart big, not growing big."